Category: Sporting 4x4s 
Price Range: No data available
Comfortable, luxurious, stylish-looking.
Thirsty V8, looks could put some buyers off, suspension needs work before a European debut.
A quick, viable and stylish alternative to the sporting 4x4s currently dominating the European market.
The FX50's 5.0-litre V8 engine is a fairly formidable proposition, pumping out 390bhp and 369 lb-ft of torque, which is all delivered smoothly, thanks in part to a seven-speed automatic gearbox - complete with a manual mode - that shifts quickly and without any jolting dramas.
Indeed, the FX50 is pretty quick, partly thanks to weighing in at a relatively slender 2,077kg - the BMW X5 weighs 2,180kg and the Range Rover Sport is a positively portly 2,717kg. With less weight to pull, the 390bhp FX can do the 0-60mph sprint in around 5.6 seconds - a lot quicker than its BMW and Land Rover rivals.
However, the brakes could do with some improvement before the car comes to Europe: touch them slightly and there's an instant, sudden reaction, but this fades away, which can be disconcerting. Thankfully, an all-wheel-drive system with all that power comes with plenty of grip: the 21" wheels of the FX50 hold the road well, even under hard acceleration.
The steering is light and reacts quickly to inputs, but there's not much feedback, in common with most systems these days.
Put all these elements together and Infiniti has a very appealing package for keen drivers: BMW owners may prefer some of the marque's attributes, but buyers with an open mind would do well to test-drive a European-spec FX when they arrive in 2009.
